Djokovic took 4 hours of the match to pass the first round in Australia

Dino Prizmic, qualifier, reached world number one

Initially, no one would have imagined that Novak Djokovic would have to spend almost 4 hours on court to get past the first round of the Australian Open.

It happened Sunday in the meeting between the 36-year-old Serb and 18-year-old Croatian Dino Prizmic – half his age – who arrived from the qualifiers, ranked 178th in the world and was competing in his first Grand Slam tournament.

After winning the first match 6-2, Djokovic conceded the second goal in the tie-break (5-7) and later recovered to win the third. On the fourth day, he broke two services and broke it once. At 5-4, Przmic allowed Djokovic to reach 40-0 on serve, but saved 4 match points to “force” his opponent to serve for the win. Djokovic quickly reached 40-0 again, and the young Croat made 3 more saves before finally succumbing, when the clock struck exactly 4 hours into the match.

As he approached the net, Djokovic asked for applause for his opponent. deserve. What is certain is that the Serbian has not lost a match at the Open since 2018.

“He deserves all the applause, he's very mature for his age, he held up well, he made my beard flow, he made me run. I'm twice his age, that's the truth…” he praised Dokovic.